Political Quotes

On the recordSeptember 24, 2019
Madam President, I very much appreciate being joined on the floor by my colleagues at this critical time in history. Senator Shaheen just spoke. We also had Senator Murray and Senator Leahy down here. This issue will come to a head tomorrow. We are really at a crossroads. This body can continue to allow the President to subvert our constitutional authority to appropriate, or we can take back our power of the purse and exercise it as the Founders intended. The issue before us is not partisan; it is constitutional. If we don't put the Constitution above party, above politics, we might as well pack up our bags and go home. The voters did not send us here to shirk our responsibilities. History will not be kind to us if we allow the Executive to run roughshod over our constitutional authority. For the second time, we have introduced a bipartisan resolution to terminate the President's national emergency declaration along our southern border. I thank Senators Collins and Shaheen for once again joining this resolution and affirming their commitment to the Constitution. Our first vote on this resolution in March passed 59 to 41. We had strong bipartisan support because the President's emergency declaration is clearly an end run around Congress. We have the power to bring this resolution back every 6 months. I hope we can add to our majority this time because what were once fears about a so-called emergency in March have become a stark reality in September.…
Said by
Tom Udall
Democratic · New Mexico

Share & report

More from Tom Udall

Dec 19, 2019

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the work of Mr. Faisal Amin, who has been serving for the past 4 months as a detailee on the staff of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies…

Congressional Record · 2019-12-19
Feb 3, 2020

Mr. President, I come before this body ith a deep sadness that this institution has failed the Constitution and failed the American people. We have reached a low point in our history. We have failed to hold a fair and honest impeachment…

Congressional Record · 2020-02-03
Oct 31, 2019

Mr. President, today I rise to pay tribute to former Senator Kay Hagan, who left us this week, much too early, at the age of 66. Kay and I entered the Senate together, in 2009. Our class of freshman Democratic Senators was very close, and…

Congressional Record · 2019-10-31
Jul 1, 2020

Mr. President, I am a strong supporter of the AFGHAN Service Act, which I introduced with Senator Paul. It has been nearly 19 years since the United States entered this war in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, and we have had several…

Congressional Record · 2020-07-01

Other voices in this conversation